The horror of Syria - the curse on our houses

Aid workers speak out against the suffering of Syria, the failures of
politicians and the cynicism of political campaigns to discredit foreign aid.

From 'The Long Season', a documentary from the 'single shot cinema' school of multi-award-winning director Leonard Retel Helmrich given its UK premiere this month at the Human Rights Watch film festival, BFI. Helmrich spent a year and half in the refugee camp, Majdal Anjar, in Lebanon's Bekaa Valley. All rights reserved.

We are both aid workers
– from Athens, Greece and from Edinburgh, Scotland, the Athens of the North. We
come from the opposite ends of Europe, but we are connected by the fact that we
are closely linked to work with Syrian refugees.

It is unusual, and
normally wrong, for aid workers to speak out about aid work and politics, but
an endgame of sorts is approaching in Syria and it is clear that the road both
to that point and beyond it will bring further intolerable suffering. In fact neither of us can stand witnessing the disgrace and
depravity of what is happening in Syria for one moment longer.

In fact neither of us
can stand witnessing the disgrace and depravity of what is happening in Syria
for one moment longer. It is on a scale beyond Greek tragedy – Sophocles
describes the pain of Creon as “keitai de nekros peri nekro" “there they
lie, the dead upon the dead” – but in Syria it is mass murder upon mass murder,
atrocity upon atrocity – and now we have the obscenity of East Ghoutta.

It seems strange to
have to use words like this in 2018, but they are the only words available to
use. The international community has played Tantalus, offering up over half a
million people for sacrifice, and 11 million to be driven out of their homes.
Now, like the house of Atreus, it is trapped and paralysed by a curse it has
brought upon itself and upon the Syrian people.

Political negligence
and failure

It did not have to be
like this. Too many international actors sought to exploit the Syrian “Arab
Spring” of 2011 to their own advantage, and this included the west. Too little
was done to stop the rot when and where it began. Pre-emptive diplomacy would
have been possible involving Russia, Iran and Turkey.

But the west was too
busy trying to sideline Russia in a new lukewarm war. Russia then embarked on a
tragicomic show of power – from antics in cyberspace to Crimea and Ukraine, and
most tragic of all in Syria. Only the UK, and to some extent the Obama
administration, had a constructive attitude towards engaging with Iran. Turkey
was made to feel an outsider by most of Europe, and after the Gulenist
attempted coup, began to persecute those capable of making peace in the region,
including innocent civil society activists like Osman Kavala, who now
languishes in prison in Istanbul. As one young refugee
put it, “It is like twenty football teams playing against one another on a
single pitch.”

This collective
irresponsibility created not one, but a whole series of wars and proxy wars,
involving the Syrian government, the Syrian people, a divided opposition,
Russia, Iran, Turkey, the Kurds, Saudi Arabia, Israel, IS, Hezbollah and
Salafist jihadist groups such as Al Nusra and its successors, not to speak of
the rights and legitimate interests of minorities like Syrian Turkmen,
Circassians, Ismailis, Druze, Armenians, Greeks, Assyrians, Yazidis, Christians
and Jews. As one young refugee put it, “It is like twenty football teams
playing against one another on a single pitch.”

The west’s principal
proactive focus in Syria has been on “degrading” ISIL. This has been largely to
satisfy western domestic agendas, some of them rational and some irrational,
including a pandemic of Islamophobia in the media. It has had little to do with
saving Syrian people from intolerable serial atrocity. Along the way the west
has offered support to Syrian opposition forces, in particular the SMC (Supreme
Military Council) although action never matched the rhetoric, and significant
training, equipping and support for the YPG (Syrian Kurdish Peoples’ Protection
Units).

But there is a dark
irony at the heart of all of this, largely unreported in the western media. The
vast majority of people in the Middle East firmly believe that ISIL was created
by the west. They accuse the west of negligence when they drove elite Iraqi
officers into the hands of radicals, and of giving the green light to non-government
funders in Saudi Arabia and other states to support ISIL, presumably in the
hope that this would create opportunity in chaos. But
there is a dark irony at the heart of all of this, largely unreported in the
western media. The vast majority of people in the Middle East firmly believe
that ISIL was created by the west.

Now the west appears to
be embarking upon another cycle of folly and human sacrifice. If reports
reaching aid workers are correct, then there are plans for corridors, hard
borders, entities and enclaves which may satisfy the agendas of some of the
powers meddling in Syria, but will bring nothing but more pain to the Syrian
people. -

If Tantalus is prepared
to reach upwards and outwards, there are things, even amid this cynicism and failure,
that can be done. There are still options for diplomacy. All of the principal
actors on the ground – Russia, Iran, Turkey, Israel – are there because there
are things they want. Even some of the more radical paramilitary groups would
come to the table in return for political recognition.

The west is in a
position to respond to some of these ambitions, with minimal damage to itself,
to barter for at least incremental improvements for the Syrian people, and to
move gradually towards the regional settlements that have to come.

This action may range
from relaxation of sanctions on Iran, through progress in bringing justice to
the people of Israel and Palestine, to a proper security deal with Russia in
Europe.

All of these strategies
are completely realistic; comparable things have happened before – in the INF
and START 1 treaties of the 1980s, the Oslo Accords of 1993-95 and the JCPOA
(Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action) of 2015, and must happen again at some
point soon. Perhaps the most powerful bargaining chip of all is money. Russia
simply cannot afford to reconstruct its Syrian entity in the way it would wish.

Political negligence
and humanitarian failure

The humanitarian action
for Syrian refugees has been a mixture of success and failure, but mostly
failure. Governmental donations to UNHCR have fallen far short of promises and
real needs. An update on funding for Syria in October 2017 showed that UNHCR
received only 43% of requirements; responses to earlier appeals have been as
low as 20%.

As a result, the
situation in Lebanon is dire. There are now roughly 2 million refugees – not
far from a third of the population. Only half are registered with UNHCR, which
closed its books in May of 2015 – partly through international political
failure, partly through running out of money.

This means a million
refugees receive no support. Those who are registered may expect food security
of $13.5 a month. In Lebanon the recommended monthly expenditure on food is
$161.76 for an Asian diet and $214.42 for a western diet. Many Syrians combine
both when they can, so the international community provides between 6% and 8%
of the food they need to survive – but of course, only for the 50% of refugees
registered, with a significant reduction in numbers by the week.

UNHCR offers limited
medical support to registered refugees. 75.8% of refugees are regularly unable
to afford medical care. 39% of the population have no regular water supply, 29%
have no access to proper sanitation. There are some
positive achievements. Oxfam, for example, has done outstanding work with water
supply in the Bekaa Valley camps through its WaSH programme.

There are some positive
achievements. Oxfam, for example, has done outstanding work with water supply
in the Bekaa Valley camps through its WaSH programme. Local NGOs have made a
magnificent effort to establish informal schools, about half in permanent
buildings and half in tents. Around 65% of refugee children are now in some
form of education, but most schools are left without any form of accreditation
– in spite of sustained efforts to appeal to international governments and
education authorities for support.

There are roughly half
a million refugees in the camps in the Bekaa Valley. In Jordan the camps are
run by UNHCR, under agreements made with the Jordanian Government. But in
Lebanon they are predominantly unstructured and dependant upon local NGOs.
After nearly seven years, people are still living in abject poverty in tents
made of tarpaulin, plastic bags, cardboard and matchwood. Local NGOs do their
best to insulate tents and raise floors to prevent flooding, but the situation
remains shockingly bad – an utter disgrace for the international community,
indeed, as Sophocles would have described it, shame upon shame.

Lebanese people have
dealt with all of this with a mixture of extraordinary, admirable generosity
and total denial. Now the denial part of the equation has turned to
frustration. It is difficult not to sympathise with the feelings of the
Lebanese. But the Army has begun to bulldoze down some of these pathetic,
sticky-tape-and-plaster communities, on a variety of legal pretexts, leading to
dispossession after dispossession, homelessness upon homelessness, pain upon
pain.

It does not help that
international policy seems to be predicated upon the delusion of a swift
“return” of refugees. Refugees cannot and should not return home until their
lives and livelihoods are secured. And home should mean home. In the meantime,
people have to be looked after with far more care and dignity, wherever they
happen to be.

It is possible to
improve this situation, even with the resources currently available. The big
funders, like ECHO (EU) or DfID (UK) are constituted to fund large partner
organisations. The large organisations they fund are best equipped to deal with
top-down interventions, like in the camps in Jordan.

The situation in Lebanon
requires a bottom-up approach. There is no way a large international NGO can
accumulate detailed intelligence and create micro- structures on the ground to
be effective throughout such varied geographies. A simple solution would be for
DfID, for example, to agree to partner consortia of local NGOs, taking a
holistic approach to the needs of given areas.

There are other
improvements that could bring immediate benefit to the Syrian people. There has
been political negligence over the question of international transfer of funds
for humanitarian work. Lack of care and wisdom in the handling of sanctions
legislation means that there is no platform for transferring funds to Syria. The only way the west will ever be able to play the money
card in Syria (we hope to the benefit of the Syrian people) is to wake up from
its torpor, and as a matter of urgency organise workable financial platforms.

There are still banks
in Syria that are not sanctioned, and there is every opportunity to set up
end-to-end accounting between designated partners. The only way the west will
ever be able to play the money card in Syria (we hope to the benefit of the
Syrian people) is to wake up from its torpor, and as a matter of urgency
organise workable financial platforms.

The authors represent
between them a number of NGOs, including SAWA for Development and Aid, the
first NGO to support Syrian refugees as they arrived in Bekaa, and an
organisation with a high reputation and excellent accounting – the founder, Dr
Rouba Mhaissen is FCO Woman of the Year.

But SAWA is not allowed
to open a bank account in the UK. It cannot transfer funds it has raised in the
UK, urgently needed for Syrian refugees in Lebanon. This immoral state of
affairs is the result of chronic political failure, negligence among government
regulators and a culture of fear among compliance departments of banks.

A new Sanctions Bill is
passing through Westminster. The aid work community can only hope that the
urgent funding transfer issue will be addressed, and that there will not be yet
another abject political failure, yet another betrayal of the Syrian people,
yet another murder in the House of Atreus.

A perspective from
Greece

Since 2013, when the crisis
began, Greece has received the second largest number of refugees in the EU, but
support from the international community is still far from adequate. More than
51,000 people are stranded in different parts of Greece according to official
sources, 13,000 of them in the islands where they were first received. The
majority have applied for asylum while others wait for relocation or family
reunification applications to be adjudicated so that they can move on to other
member states. More than 51,000 people are stranded
in different parts of Greece according to official sources, 13,000 of them in
the islands where they were first received.

However, as the situation
stands, it is safe to say that all five islands concerned (Lesvos, Chios,
Samos, Leros, Kos) are overpopulated. Lesvos is a good example. While the official
refugee camp’s capacity is 3,000 people, the island currently accommodates 7,000.
During February 2018, only 3 people were sent back to Turkey (under the
EU-Turkey agreement) and 33 were sent to the Greek mainland.

In spite of ongoing efforts
of the Greek army, living conditions are poor and inappropriate. Overcrowding,
poor sanitation and security lapses are putting refugees and migrants at the
reception and processing centres of Vathy on Samos and Moria on Lesvos at risk.
On Monday March 5, 2018, following a visit to these two eastern Aegean islands,
Amnesty International stated that:

“Overcrowding in the
hotspots has a compounding effect on the standard of basic services, the
frustration and mental, physical and psychosocial health. Very few people are
leaving the islands and moved to the mainland.”

Lack of funding and
international support means there is insufficient capacity to meet the needs of
people with specific vulnerabilities, such as unaccompanied minors, the elderly
and others who are unable to care for themselves.

And there are other, less
self-evident vulnerabilities. Assessments are not always undertaken in a
thorough manner; often only the most obvious and visible challenges are
identified. There is a general lack or limitation of access to primary health
care, mental health care, legal abortion, clinical management of rape and
treatment of chronic diseases; there is also a lack of interest (or burn out!)
among some doctors, lack of engagement from local associations and lack of
cultural mediators and interpreters at the hospitals.

There are women with high
risk pregnancies with limited access to proper follow-up, and a high number of
unwanted pregnancies, including an increased prevalence of pregnancies relating
to SGBV (Sexual and Gender Based Violence), There are reports of SGBV cases
that have not received post-exposure prophylaxis within the appropriate time
(72 hours). There is limited access to formula milk for newborn babies

Refugees are most often
left to navigate the complicated asylum system on their own, with insufficient
information and language support, at the same time as they face a multitude of
adversities, trying to rebuild their lives in their new surroundings and pursue
their rights to seek security, health care, education and employment.

In the evolving and
constantly changing asylum procedures in Greece, legal assistance is essential,
not only for processing asylum claims but also for ensuring that rights to
basic needs are respected. Although there is a state-run legal aid scheme, it
falls far short of current needs. Only 23 lawyers have been recruited by the
Asylum Service to provide legal services for the 17,633 asylum seekers who have
challenged initial decisions since 2016. Only 23
lawyers have been recruited by the Asylum Service to provide legal services for
the 17,633 asylum seekers who have challenged initial decisions since 2016.

Access to health, social
security and welfare allowances has been problematic. According to Greek law,
asylum seekers and refugees are entitled to free health care. But the law is
poorly codified and based mainly on a variety of Government circulars which do
not offer clarity on relevant procedures.

All agencies working with
refugees in Greece express grave concern about the lack of clarity on what
happens at the end of 2018, when the majority of funding is expected to be
withdrawn. These agencies express considerable anxiety about to whom, how, when
or what responsibilities will be transitioned. It was noted as of considerable
concern that the recent transitioning of a number of services on the islands
has not so far been successful, in particular the transition from INGO-supported
medical services to state medical services. Groups identified a need for
extensive capacity-building and institutional strengthening.

Greece seems to be too
immersed in its own problems, including its internal political and financial
crises, its relations with Turkey and the refugee crisis itself to be able to
care about the horrific events taking place in Syria at the moment.

Other than the voices of
individuals and some NGOs, there is little political movement. The people of
the Greek islands were nominated for the Nobel Prize for their admirable
efforts – it was an achievement to be very proud of in very many ways; but
there are, as yet, no prizes for the international politicians.

A perspective from the UK

The British are by nature a
welcoming people in their quiet, undemonstrative way. It is sad that political
pressures in recent years have encouraged a culture of chauvinism and
xenophobia.

It was fear of this
political movement that prevented David Cameron’s Government from pulling its
weight in the Syrian migration crisis of 2013 to 16, lagging shamefully behind
Greece and most of western Europe. A compromise was finally made, and the UK
promised to take in 20,000 refugees by the end of the current parliamentary
term (2020).

A saving grace for British
self-respect, among its multiple failures to assist the Syrian people, has been
its aid budget, which is 0.71% of national income, making the UK the fifth best
donor in the world. But on the morning of February 8, 2018, Jacob Rees Mogg
arrived in Downing St with an ice-cream vendor’s box containing a petition
organised by the Daily Express demanding the axeing of the entire UK aid
budget.

At more or less the same
moment, The Times, a paper Rees Mogg’s father once edited, announced on Twitter
its headline for February 9 – which was the story of Oxfam employees accused of
using prostitutes in Haiti. This was the signal for an apparently coordinated
campaign of accusations and innuendo in the press – including a profoundly
misleading article in the Daily Mail about aid workers in Bosnia, relating to
events that the authors witnessed at close hand – all intended to discredit the
aid work community, and therefore the aid budget. It looks, to all intents and
purposes, like yet another immolation and yet another total disgrace.

And from the Athens of the
South and North

From the Athens of the
South and the North, we make a number of urgent appeals:

– for less defeatism,
cynicism and immorality, and more wisdom and creativity in seeking an end to
the suffering of the Syrian people, including progress towards regional
settlements, remembering that the common life (which is the Syrian tradition)
is a safer and more prosperous way to live than in enclaves and ghettos;

– for
international political action to ensure that financial targets for aid work
are met, and not to assume that refugees can be bundled back to Syria on the
basis of a cynical international carve-up of zones of influence, remembering always
that home means home;

– to make sure there are secure banking platforms for
transfer of money to Syria and surrounding countries, for both large and small
NGOs, to ensure that designated resources for aid and reconstruction reach
their target, and that the west can use its financial influence in positive
ways;

– to offer far more financial support for Greece, the second-largest
refugee receiving country in Europe, and in particular to be clear about the
plan, if there is one, for the end of 2018;

– and for the UK not to betray
itself, and not to trash its most convincing reason for self-respect in the
wider world.

About the authors

Christina
Anagnostopoulou is a musicologist teaching topics related to music psychology
and health at the University of Athens. Together with her students, she uses
music to support people in psychiatric institutions, hospitals, drug
rehabilitation centres, and collaborates with various NGOs related to ethnic
minorities. She has been working with war refugees since they first appeared in
Athens - on the street, in occupied buildings and in official camps. She advocates that Universities should be in the
front line of offering help to people in need.

Nigel Osborne is
a composer who has pioneered methods of using music and creative arts to
support children who are victims of conflict. He has a quarter of a century's
experience in aid work, ranging from health care to education and emergency
relief, in the Balkans, Caucasus, East Africa, South East Asia, the Indian
subcontinent and currently in the Bekaa Valley, Lebanon. He is also a
campaigner for human rights.

This article is published under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International licence.
If you have any queries about republishing please contact us.
Please check individual images for licensing details.

Recent comments

openDemocracy is an independent, non-profit global media outlet, covering world affairs, ideas and culture, which seeks to challenge power and encourage democratic debate across the world. We publish high-quality investigative reporting and analysis; we train and mentor journalists and wider civil society; we publish in Russian, Arabic, Spanish and Portuguese and English.